Report
on the first seminar of the South-East Asia Network
Hanoi, 1st - 5th December 1999

INTRODUCTION

According to the program of the southeast Asian Network, the first seminar of this Network was held in Hanoi from 1-5 December, 99 with the financial support by UNESCO (Paris)
Participants of the seminar were:

CONTENT OF THE SEMINAR

1/ Prof. Le Huu Tang, Vice-Director of NCSSH, Vice-chairman of National UNESCO commission Vietnam gave some warm welcome words to the Seminar. He affirmed that this would be a well-organized seminar, attracting the scientists towards a common topic related to the social-economic conditions of all the member countries of the network, which is a great concern for many researchers and teachers of these countries. The result of studies will be useful for all the members of the network, and the National UNESCO commission in Vietnam will support such a kind of networking.

2/ Prof. Dr. Do Hoai Nam and Prof. Gernard de Bernis presented to all participants the purposes, principles and fundamentals of the network: creating an academic international network of documentation, research and teaching associating scientists and teachers in southeast Asian countries and in Europe in order to study the social-economic development problems they are confronted to. The Network should work under the consensus principle and intensively use the electronic means of communication. Common study topic for the seminar is "Impact on the southeast Asian countries of the Asian episode of the world financial-monetary crisis"

3/ Representative of UNESCO (Paris), Dr. Thai Quang Nam expressed the objectives and interests of UNESCO in supporting the Network. The basic policy of UNESCO is to help researchers and teachers to study the problems of their own countries for their own development.

4/ Participants from Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, ISMEA and the UNESCO representative presented their reports.
+ Prof. Withaya Sucharithanarugse, Institute of Southeast Asian studies, University of Chulalongkorn, Thailand presented his communication: "Economic crisis in Thailand"
+ Dr. Renato E. Reside, Philippines Social Sciences Council summarized the main contents of 2 contributions: "The Philippine Banking System" and "Contagion and the Asian currency crisis: Some initial findings"
+ Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Institute of economics, NCSSH, commented on a set of tables and charts related to the socio-economic situation in Vietnam: "Impact of Asian crisis on Vietnam Economy"
+ Prof. Gerard de Bernis, ISMEA delivered a speech on : "Globalization: History and Problems"
+ Dr. Thai Quang Nam, Department of Social Issues of UNESCO (Paris) presented a report on: "UNESCO Unitwin Program "

After each report, there was a short 15 minutes debate. Participants have expressed their comments and questions about the problems presented in the reports.
Generally, it was estimated that all the reports had been well-prepared, in line with the basic topic of the seminar and that some important suggestions had been proposed for the policy-makers.

SEMINAR RECOMMENDATIONS

1/ Other participants who did not take part in the Seminar (i.e. representatives of the research centers of Indonesia and Malaysia) are required, if possible, to send their contributions to Prof. Gernard de Bernis and Prof. Dr. Do Hoai Nam by post or e-mail. The co-ordinators will seek for funding in order to publish "Proceedings" as a result of the first meeting of the Southeast Asian Network.

2/ Within the first 2 weeks of December 99, each member will send to all the others 1 or 2 proposals for the network research topics during the year 2000. The Co-ordinators will try to find a common agreement through the network mailing list and select the most common and suitable topic in the field of the socio-economic issues in southeast Asian countries. This topic will be the common concern for the year 2000 and for the second seminar, which was planned to be held at the end of the year 2000 in one of the network member countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia or The Philippines.
Concerning this common topic for the second seminar, the UNESCO representative noted that the content should be of common interest for the research Institutes and the decision making institutions.

3/ This Report on the results of the first seminar in Hanoi will be sent to UNESCO (Paris), to the UNESCO representative in Vietnam and to the National UNESCO commission Vietnam. The participants thank UNESCO for its support and hope that this support will continue in the future, in terms of political support and contribution for the funding of the network activities.
This Report will also be sent to all the Network members before the end of December 99. And the program for the year 2000 will be sent at the latest on 30 January 2000.

CONCLUDING POINTS

Participants visited the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the Institute of Economics, the Institute of Social science Information (former EFEO) and the Vietnamese Ethnology Museum. They had fruitful discussions with the staff of these organisations.
We can conclude that the first network seminar was successful. Organizers and participants deeply thank the Institute of Economics that prepared very well the Seminar in both organization and content. We particularly thank all researchers and teachers who took part in this seminar and contributed positively to its success.